Could the police themselves be throwing Molotov cocktails in order to justify the police crackdown? The New York Times ponders:

40 seconds of video released by Rio’s military police showed a man near the front line between the two sides lighting and then hurling a Molotov cocktail, which exploded near officers in riot gear. Within hours the clip was mysteriously removed from YouTube.

According to the theory advanced by supporters of Brazil’s protest movement, the bomb thrower pictured in the police video, wearing a T-shirt with a bulky design on the front, was identical to a man caught on video later, retreating behind police lines and pulling off his T-shirt, alongside a second man also suspected of being an undercover officer.

Other bloggers pointed out that another video clip recorded by a witness to Monday’s demonstrations showed the same two men passing unmolested through a crowd of uniformed officers after displaying identification: